Chapter 128: Ant Strength

After reading the message together and teleporting back to the city, they instantly arrived at the exchange office and converted all their gold coins into blue coins. Zhang Shan had previously accumulated 78 million gold coins, but after some consideration, he decided to exchange only 70 million for now. No matter how expensive the houses in Peng City were, there had to be a limit.

When looking for a house later, he would set the budget ceiling at 70 million; after all, in the game, it was wise to keep some gold coins on hand. With that, plus the gold coins he had saved earlier, Zhang Shan still had just over 10 million gold coins left.

Only accumulating without spending was a dead end. If he suddenly needed an item and lacked gold coins, he would have to convert more or borrow from others, which would be troublesome.

The New World Exchange was incredibly powerful. Zhang Shan converted 70 million gold coins without causing any price fluctuations. The trading volume was enormous; the operators’ 1% commission from the exchange and auction house fees must have amounted to a staggering sum.

“Haha, I finally have the money in hand,” Boss Wu said gleefully.

“Don’t be so weak; go offline quickly and share your joy with your wife,” Zhang Shan teased.

“Alright, I’m logging off now. See you tomorrow. Besides, I don’t have to work anymore anyway.”

Boss Wu logged off, and Zhang Shan checked the time. It was getting late; time to log off and sleep.

Over the next ten-plus days, Zhang Shan and Boss Wu continuously leveled up by hunting monsters on the Ant Hill map. During this time, they also teamed up with some top players from the Wind and Cloud Guild to clear the second floor of the Demon Suppression Tower dungeon twice—once on normal mode and once on hard mode.

They missed out on the first-clear rewards in normal mode, having been beaten to it by others, but they secured the first-clear reward on hard mode. The difficulty difference was significant; the hard mode could stall other players for quite a while.

The second floor of the Demon Suppression Tower dungeon wasn’t easy. Especially the boss guarding that floor—the Demon Clan's Strongman Commander—was extremely powerful. His stomp skill completely countered all tanks.

Even Zhang Shan’s panda companion was no match. The boss couldn’t knock down the panda, but a single stomp would send it flying, leaving no one to tank the monsters. Eventually, they had to rely on other warrior classes to constantly charge, drawing the boss’s attention back to the panda.

Every time the boss unleashed his stomp ultimate, they had to regain aggro, which was exhausting.

Zhang Shan also participated in a monster siege event once, again ranking first on the city defense contribution list, but the final rewards were disappointing.

Between the two dungeon runs and the siege event, Zhang Shan only gained some experience and managed to roll a red armor piece and two purple items.

Though he didn’t get great gear from group activities, he made significant gains at the auction house. He purchased three divine materials, adding to the two he already had, bringing his total to five.

That damaged ring was just a step away from being repaired into a divine artifact—if only he could find the corresponding NPC. However, this step was the hardest, relying heavily on luck. Sometimes one might find the NPC by chance; other times, even after half a month of searching, the triggering NPC might never appear.

Zhang Shan hadn’t yet decided when to pursue this. If successful, he would gain another divine artifact; if not, it would be a waste of time.

He decided to wait a while longer. He wasn’t lacking in attack power now and didn’t urgently need the artifact. First, he wanted to collect more divine materials.

As for Boss Wu, after successfully converting 75 million gold coins into blue coins, he was completely free. Except for a half-day spent handling his resignation at his former workplace, he spent everyday hunting monsters with Zhang Shan.

Even the house-hunting was left to his wife to manage. Zhang Shan had agreed with them to buy their houses close to each other so they could be neighbors. He had no particular demands for the house, only that it be in a relatively quiet area—ideally by the sea.

A dream from his youth was now within reach, so naturally, he wanted to make proper arrangements.

Boss Wu and his family had more stringent requirements, mainly considering their child’s schooling. They wanted to find a place near good schools. Although their child wouldn’t start kindergarten for over a year, parents always planned ahead like this, even before their children were born.

“How much experience do you need to reach level 30?” Boss Wu asked.

“About a million more, almost there.”

At first, hunting monsters together didn’t affect Zhang Shan’s experience gain much. But now, at level 28, Boss Wu shared experience more equally, so Zhang Shan received less than before.

Of course, Boss Wu could also attack monsters now—it wasn’t just Zhang Shan doing all the work. But Wu’s attack speed and power were much slower. As a support class with mediocre gear, his damage output was limited. Zhang Shan could take down seven or eight marching ants before Wu managed to kill one.

Fortunately, their guild skill increased experience gained by 10%, so things weren’t too bad.

They needed to find a way to get Boss Wu a summoning skill book soon; otherwise, he was too weak. His damage output was so low that he was essentially just a pure support.

After Zhang Shan took down a marching ant with three shots, a notification sounded.

System prompt: Your passive talent “King” has been triggered by killing a corrupted marching ant, granting you the passive skill “Ant Power.”

“Finally, I’ve unlocked the marching ant’s passive skill,” Zhang Shan exclaimed.

“You unlocked the marching ant’s passive? That talent of yours is awesome—always getting skill drops for free. Let’s see how it works.”

Zhang Shan had farmed on the Ant Hill map for at least twenty days to unlock this passive. Compared to other passive skills he had gained, this one took the most time.

He reviewed the skill’s effects, hoping it would be powerful.

Ant Power (Passive): Level 1 (talent-acquired, cannot be upgraded), increases attack power by 10%.

“Awesome! Another 10% boost. If you keep farming skills like this, your attack power will skyrocket.”

“It’s decent—same as the rabbit’s passive, 10% attack increase. Now my output is up to nearly 400.”

Zhang Shan glanced at his character stats; his total attack power had surpassed 4,000.

He hadn’t updated his gear in a long time. Except for his artifact and boots, most of his equipment was level 20 purple gear. Though his level had increased by about ten during the past two weeks, his attack power hadn’t improved much.

This wouldn’t do. He needed better equipment and couldn’t afford to be a slacker.

Once he reached level 30, he planned to splurge on a powerful gear set or at least buy a full set of red-grade equipment.

He still had three pieces of level 30 red gear in his warehouse—a chest piece, a necklace, and bracers. The level 20 red boots didn’t need replacement, so he only needed to buy four more pieces. It shouldn’t cost more than two million gold coins.

For now, he would keep grinding, aiming to hit level 30 as soon as possible. Another two or three hours of hunting would likely do it.